On Saturday, tens of thousands of workers from three different trade unions will go on strike over issues of compensation and job security, resulting in the shutdown of the majority of the country’s train network and the worst rail strike in Britain in decades.
The strikes are the most recent in a year that has seen widespread labour unrest in Britain, affecting everyone from attorneys to transport and postal workers as the cost of living and energy prices grow faster than salary increases.
Labor unions claim that wage offers made to their members represent a pay decrease in real terms due to inflation that is currently around 40-year highs of about 10%.
Mick Lynch, general secretary of the RMT union, told broadcaster ITV on Friday, ‘We’ve not got offers from any of the firms that will break this deadlock.’
‘All of these firms are currently collecting enormous profits from the railway, but they are requesting that our members give up their salaries and jobs.’
Last Monday, the RMT union met with Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the new transport minister for the government; Lynch deemed the meetings ‘encouraging.c
The RMT, ASLEF, and TSSA unions, who collectively represent more than 50,000 rail employees, will go on a 24-hour strike on Saturday that will impact 14 train operators as well as Network Rail, which owns and operates the train infrastructure.
Network Rail has referred to the strikes as ‘unnecessary and destructive,’ claiming that its most recent offer was an 8% salary increase with benefits spread over two years.
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